


What kinda name?

by aceflowerchild



Series: all signs lead to you [1]
Category: Paranatural (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, I think that's it - Freeform, M/M, POV Alternating, Sort Of, theres a bunch of different soulmarks in this thing, yep that's right
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-26 03:12:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14393061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aceflowerchild/pseuds/aceflowerchild
Summary: Of all the ways they could have met... this wasn't one either of them expected.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> title's not great and is subject to change. enjoy!

Ever since Johnny had been old enough to know what a soulmate was, he had been excited to meet his. He had imagined countless scenarios in which they met and he swept them off their feet and they would _ooh_ and _ah_ over his hair and muscles. (He had imagined several much softer scenarios as well, involving cuddling and hand holding, but he kept those to himself.)

And looking at his wrist, it was less than 24 hours until they were fated to meet.

The gang crowded around him, looking at the time ticking down on his right arm. Johnny would be the first of them to know his soulmate (Ollie and Stephen didn’t have soulmarks yet, and RJ chose to ignore theirs), so it was a pretty big thing. “Looks like tomorrow’s the big day kids,” Johnny said, not looking away.

“You nervous?” Stephen asks, serious.

Johnny scoffs. “Me? Nervous? Nahh. I’m cool as a cuke. _Cooler_ , even.” This, if it isn’t obvious, was a lie. Johnny was extremely nervous. And he was, in fact, very warm and a little sweaty.

But Stephen seems to buy it. He grins and punches Johnny’s arm. “Haha, yeah! That’s the spirit!”

And of course, since Johnny was nervous about it and had lied about his nervousness, he held it all inside and thought about it all day and all night until he eventually fell asleep. And then he thought about it in his dreams.

At the breakfast table his moms noticed how quiet he was and sat on either side of him, looking concerned.

“What’s the matter, J?”

Johnny looks between his moms and before he can change his mind, asks, “Were you guys nervous when you met each other? Cause I’m s’posed to meet my soulmate today and it’s in less than an hour and I’m nervous cause what if they don’t like me or it doesn’t work out?”

Ma smiles at him and puts a hand on his shoulder and Johnny leans into the weight. “It’s okay to be nervous. And if they’re your soulmate, things’ll work themselves out, you’ll see.” She glances over at her wife and her smile grows wider. “Your mom and I hated each other at first. And in almost no time at all we were inseparable.” She goes over and peppers Mom’s face with kisses.

Johnny turns away, saying, “Ugh, gross! I get yer point! I’m going now.” He pauses at the doorway and mumbles, “Thanks.”

On the walk to school, Johnny tries to distract himself by telling the baker story. Talking about fights always makes him feel better.

“He’s gonna need a whole lotta _yeast_ to _rise_ after one-a your punches,” Stephen says, elbowing Johnny, and they all pause to have a good laugh. No one properly appreciates puns anymore.

_00:03_

 “Nobody _ever_ gets the drop on me,” Johnny says, smirking, and he’s all but forgotten about the timer on his wrist.

_00:02_

The sound of nerd yelling comes from above and they all look up, and Johnny’s gaze is met with the bottom of a scooter getting closer much faster than what is advisable.

_00:01_

“What the…?” And before Johnny can finish that sentence, the scooter nerd has landed on his face.

For a few seconds his head is pounding, but then it just… goes away. As soon as he comes to, Johnny feels fine. He glares at the nerd who dared to land on his face, especially when he’s about to meet his soulmate.

In the middle of his apology, the kid stops, staring at Johnny’s hair. And then he starts _insulting_ it. So Johnny starts chasing him. This kid must have some nerve. Landing on his face, insulting his hair, and when he’s supposed to bump into his soulmate any minute now, too.

Speaking of meeting his soulmate, Johnny checks his wrist and comes to an abrupt stop when he sees that it’s at zero. He watches as the mark slowly fades until all that’s left of it is a pale outline that looks like a scar more than anything else.

He looks back up at the kid, who’s still running, and Johnny starts chasing after him again.

Of all the ways he had imagined meeting his soulmate, this was _not_ one of them. Not even close.

* * *

 

Max was less excited about meeting his soulmate. Or at least, he pretended to be.

He does have his reasons for being skeptical though. For one thing, his mom and her soulmate didn’t end up working out (a fact she had reminded him of _constantly,_ making sure to always end the story with “So you can be whoever you want, despite what the universe says”). For another, they had the most ridiculous, made up sounding name: Johnny Jhonny.

Max remembers waking up on his ninth birthday and seeing the name on his left hip as he changed. He’d rushed to the mirror, trying to read it backwards, running over the words with his right hand.

Looking up as if speaking directly to the universe, Max had yelled out, “WHAT KINDA NAME IS JOHNNY JHONNY?!?”

And Max pretended not to care, but every time he met someone named Johnny or any variation of the name, his heartbeat would speed up and he’d nervously ask for a last name. And every time, he’d be disappointed.

So by the time he actually _does_ meet his soulmate, he’s convinced himself that it doesn’t matter and that it won’t be him (even if he does perk up a little when the boy says his name is Johnny). He is further convinced that Johnny isn’t his soulmate when he and his friends start to chase him around Mayview to beat him up. Besides, no one’s ever met their soulmate by landing on their face with a scooter. It just didn’t happen.

Despite all of his denial, Max’s hip tingled the whole time Johnny was near, but he ignored it because it _wasn’t him_. It tingled especially when he and Johnny were fighting in the hall, but that may have been from the kick Johnny had landed there early on in the fight.

After that, Max does his best to avoid Johnny, which is _much_ easier said than done as the kid seems to be everywhere; in his classes, the cafeteria, around corners, even on his way to school. And every single time, Max’s hip tingled (he continued to ignore it).

But after hearing coach Oop call out Johnny’s full name (because of course Johnny was Johnny Jhonny, _of course_ his name was the very same one from Max’s hip), Max couldn’t simply ignore it anymore. Well, he could. But he wasn’t going to.

His first course of action? Scream. Not out loud, which would have been ideal, but he was certainly screaming.

The next item on his list had to be postponed in favor of more important things, like keeping Hijacked Jeff from killing anyone, finding Hijack, and then getting him out of Mr. Spender. It was a very long day that felt like it had lasted for three years.

But as Max passes Johnny on his way to the office where his dad is waiting, he smiles and says, “What kinda name is Johnny Jhonny?”

Johnny, not having been there, does not get the joke. He gets defensive. “Well- what kinda name is _Max Puckett_ , huh? Where’re you going anyway?”

“Home. My dad’s picking me up, cause, y’know, arm.” Max holds up his arm for emphasis.

“Oh. Right,” Johnny says quietly. “Well- seeya. An’ don’t let nobody else beatchu up!”

Max waves and continues toward the office. His dad greets him as soon as he walks in the door.

“Hey buddy bear, what happened?”

Max blushes at the nickname and grumbles, “I’ll tell you later, let’s just go home.”

“Oh no, we’re going to a hospital kiddo. Just gotta pick up your sister first.”

“But dad-” Max began to protest.

“Ah! No buts! You know the rule.”

Max scowled because he did, in fact, know the rule. If there was even a chance of a bone being broken (in addition to burns and possible poisoning), it meant a trip to the ER. The Pucketts had been well-known at Baxborough’s hospital.

So to the hospital they go, Max pouting the whole time. When they pick up Zoey, she immediately asks, “What happened to your arm?”

“Gym. Kid threw the ball too hard,” Max mutters, still not happy about having to talk to a doctor.

His dad looks at him and asks, “Was it the same guy you fought on your first day?”

Max sighs heavily. “That wasn’t even really a fight dad, I just avoided his fists, mostly. But it wasn’t him, it was someone else.”

Dad squints but doesn’t press the matter. Instead, he presses a different one. “You haven’t fought that first kid anymore, have you?”

Max shifts uncomfortably. “Not really? I don’t know what counts as fighting with Johnny.”

“Johnny?” Zoey asks. “Like the Johnny that’s your soulmate, Johnny? Or is this one just a normal Johnny?”

“There’s nothing “normal” about Johnny. And yes. He is, in fact, my soulmate.” And without meaning to, Max is smiling.

Dad almost crashes the car. “What! You met your soulmate? And you didn’t tell us?! That part’s actually not surprising. But you met him?”

Max isn’t sure what to say. He wasn’t really expecting this response from his dad, considering that he didn’t have a soulmate of his own. “Uh. Yeah? I didn’t know until today though.” While it wasn’t exactly a lie, it wasn’t quite the truth either. He could’ve known, had he asked Johnny what his stupid last name was when he had landed on his face.

“Were you _planning_ on telling us?” Zoey asks, eyebrows raised. Max was a bad influence on her.

“I don’t think that’s a question that needs to be answered, Zo,” Max answered, voice light.

“I thought so.”

 

The hospital trip takes forever (mainly because it’s a very crowded ER and Max can’t help but wonder if that’s normal) but when they leave, Max has a hard cast around his arm and a prescription for some painkillers. Max insists that he doesn’t need them but doesn’t mention that it’s because of PK (who’s stuck around this whole time like a champ).

By the time he gets to bed and goes to sleep, Max has almost forgotten all about Johnny. Almost.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter's just real short but still, hope you guys enjoy it!

Max woke up groggy and sore the next morning, and to his dismay, PK was gone. He shuffled out of bed, trying (and ultimately failing) not to jostle his arm. He grabs a shirt he doesn’t care about stretching out and shoves the cast through the sleeve.

Throughout the whole “getting ready” process, Max forgets that his arm is broken a total of six times, and each time he gets increasingly more frustrated with it.

_Stupid hitball, stupid Hijack, stupid arm for getting broken, stupid me for thinking I wouldn’t get hurt, stupid, stupid, stupid._

He lets out a frustrated sigh as he goes to pick up his backpack with the wrong arm (again) and switches.

“Bye dad, I’m going to school,” he says as he walks out into the convenience store proper.

“Oh? You don’t wanna stay home today?”

Max pauses. He’d completely forgotten about that part of bone-breaking. Then he shakes his head. “Nah, there’s too much to do.”

Weirdly enough, he doesn’t run into anyone from school on the walk, so there was no one to warn him about what was going to happen once he arrived (although he’s not entirely sure that anyone _would_ have warned him anyway).

As soon as Max steps inside the school’s gates, Johnny marches toward him, looking determined. Max looks around for an escape but can’t find any before Johnny is there in front of him.

“Lemme sign yer cast, Puckett.” Max pauses and blinks.

“What, no threats to beat me up?” Max asks as he offers up the broken arm. Johnny doesn’t answer but he smiles as he grabs Max’s arm. There’s silence while he leaves his mark on the cast and Max is looking around, trying to find something interesting to focus on that isn’t Johnny.

“Done!” Johnny says, smiling proudly.

Max checks out what Johnny had left, dismayed to find that he had taken up over half the cast. “Dude, you couldn’t’ve left any more room?”

Johnny’s grin widens and he says, “It’s lucky I left what I did.”

Max snorts and stops turning his arm when his eye is caught on the name _Johnny Jhonny._

“Oh yeah.”

“What?” Johnny asks, tilting his head to the side and Max pushes the thought of _He looks like a puppy_ out of his head.

“Uh. You’re kind of… my soulmate.”

There’s a pause as Johnny processes what Max has said. And then his eyes and grin widen simultaneously just before he starts jumping up and down, yelling jubilantly.

Max is _very_ confused. “Why is that so exciting?”

Johnny stops jumping, grin still bordering on ‘creepy murderer’. “You’re mine too! Look!” He steps over and pulls up the sleeve of his jacket so that Max can see his wrist. “The stopwatch must’ve timed out when ya landed on me with that scooter of yours.” He stops and it looks like he’s thinking about something. “I forgive you for that though, cause yer my soulmate! What’s your thing?”

Max takes a minute to soak in all of what Johnny had just said and then asks, slowly, “My… thing?”

“Yeah! Your soulmark thingy. What is it.”

“Oh! _That_ thing.” He pulls up the shirt just enough to where Johnny can see his own name on Max’s hip (though it looks more like a scar than a tattoo now).

“Cool,” Johnny says softly. He straightens up and the smile is back on his face. “What should we do first, now that we’re soulmates and all?”

“I’m going to class,” Max says, side-stepping Johnny and trying to hide his own smile as Johnny lets out a noise of indignation and follows after him.


End file.
